


I'm Almost Me Again

by dysfunctionalgay



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, ada slightly regrets shit talking the vanguard so much, i ship it but this would be the slowest of burns, ikora needs a hug, mentions of Cayde's death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:23:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22960153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dysfunctionalgay/pseuds/dysfunctionalgay
Summary: Ada-1 doesn't like the Vanguard very much, but one unannounced visit might alter her opinion just a bit.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yo this is my first foray into fic in a very long time and I'm just making myself spit this out so I stop leaving every single writing attempt unfinished, so it's not proofread and I'm rusty as hell.
> 
> No I have no idea where this is going, it's just a little idea I had.

Footsteps echo down the hallway and alert Ada-1 to the approach of one of the Tower’s many nosy guardians. She doesn’t bother turning away from the screen she’s scrolling through, instead calling out dismissively; “Be careful with my wares, guardian. Ask me first before you examine anything.”

“I would never touch your weapons without permission, Ada-1.” So startled is Ada by the unmistakable cool, calm tones of Ikora Rey that she jumps, turning away from updating her inventory to stare at the Warlock Vanguard as she approaches. She expected a visit from the Vanguard at some point, but imagined that such an arrival would be preceded by unnecessary bureaucratic red tape, probably in the form of some official memo detailing a meeting date and time. She never imagined that Ikora would simply… stroll down to the Annex and pay her a visit.

Ikora pauses halfway down the hallway that makes up the Black Armory shop, offering a polite smile in response to Ada’s obvious surprise. “You’ve been generous with our guardians, providing them excellent weaponry with which to protect our city. I thought we were long overdue for an introduction, though from what I understand you seem to know me pretty well already.”

The smile never disappears, and Ikora does nothing else, but somehow Ada is immediately reminded of all the disparaging comments she’s made about the Vanguard to guardians as they peruse her wares. For a moment she’s embarrassed, but pride makes her shake off that feeling. Every judgment she’s made about the Vanguard has been with reason. “I have an outsider’s perspective, and from that, the Vanguard’s decisions do not always look so good.”

Ikora laughs, surprising Ada yet again, and continues forward. “The Vanguard’s decisions do not always look so good from an insider’s perspective either, believe it or not.” Ada is once more caught off guard, and doesn’t have the time or privacy to parse this bit of information -- Ikora is on her platform now, stopping a polite distance away. “I would be interested in what you have to offer -- not for myself, of course.” She pauses, a wistful smile laced with something deeper crossing her face. “Vanguard remain in the Tower for their duties.”

There’s pain on her face, though she does an excellent job of nearly hiding it. Ada brings up a hologram of her inventory for Ikora’s viewing pleasure. “Is it so hard, staying within the Tower?” Ada never ventures outside of the Tower, and spends the vast majority of her time right where she is, within the confines of the Black Armory’s warehouse.

Ikora is silent for several moments, swiping through the various weaponry. “It was never much of a problem for me. Always plenty to do here. Others…” She looks up at Ada. “Some Vanguard were not so suited to confinement.”

There’s a prolonged stretch of silence where the two women study each other. Ada knows she shouldn’t, but curiosity burns. “Your -- partner. The other Vanguard. He left, didn’t he? And that’s how…”

Ikora takes a deep breath, shoulders setting. “Yes. Cayde disliked having to remain within the Tower. Unfortunately, his first officially sanctioned mission outside of the Tower ended disastrously; we will not make the same mistake again. We have yet to find another suited to the Hunter Vanguard position, and having a full leadership team is crucial. We cannot afford to lose another Vanguard.”

Her voice transforms into something almost robotic sounding toward the last few sentences, Ada admiring the irony of that opinion before considering the implications. It feels to Ada as if Ikora is reciting some official rulebook rather than giving her opinion. A thousand answers race through her mind; she could call Ikora out on this scripted response, or challenge the Vanguard’s inaction in response to Cayde’s death. Instead, she clears the inventory projection from between the two of them, meeting Ikora’s steely gaze without the hologram to shield her. “It must have been hard, losing him.”

Ikora has long since mastered her ability to shield her emotions, a necessary requirement to maintain such precise control over the Void energy she specializes in. Still, something flickers behind her eyes, enough that Ada can tell her words were unexpected. “Yes. He was more than my colleague -- Cayde was my closest friend.” She pauses, and now seems almost surprised by her answer, and Ada can almost watch the walls go back up as Ikora fixes another polite smile on her face. “Thank you for entertaining my curiosity, Ada.”

Ikora turns to go, and Ada watches her walk away, unsure of how to respond until Ikora is nearly out of the room. “Come back again, Ikora.”

Ikora pauses just inside the doorway, looking back over her shoulder, and this time the smile is genuine, a surprising amount of warmth expressed from a face normally impassive and guarded. She says nothing in response, but continues out of the room, leaving Ada to wonder about her prior assumptions regarding the Warlock Vanguard.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ikora pulls an all-nighter for Ada (not what it sounds like, unfortunately)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: "hey I'm just gonna do a pointless one-shot"  
> Also me: "what if it had a second chapter... haha jk.... unless"
> 
> (I'm still not proofreading this btw, please forgive any errors in grammar or just strange sentence structuring)

It takes several days for Ada to stop thinking about Ikora’s visit. She utilizes her catalogued memory, analyzing every angle of their conversation. Ikora’s apparent unhappiness with certain Vanguard decisions is almost too obvious for Ada to feel comfortable trusting her observations, and her inexperience with guardians makes her wonder if maybe there’s something more to interpreting their emotions and opinions. Still, she worries -- both for the sake of the intriguing Vanguardian and the Tower and city as a whole.

If the Vanguard are in dissent -- and if a Hunter Vanguard cannot be found -- what will that mean for the citizens of the city? What will that mean for guardians? Ada had never cared much for them before, but after getting to know a few different guardians during the course of business, she’s come to realize that many of them are -- well, normal.

“You said I could return. I hope I am not intruding.”

Ada nearly drops the holopad, twisting rapidly to face the approaching figure of Ikora Rey. It's almost scary, how she appeared just as Ada was pouring back over their conversation - though, given the frequency of her recent Ikora-related thoughts, the odds had been tipped well in Ikora's favor.

"Of course not. I would not have offered if I didn't mean it." She glances around, almost expecting other guardians to follow - maybe the Titan Vanguard, or some other important city official.

Ikora seems to pick up on Ada's confusion. "I had a stray thought last night. It took me several hours, but I found this." Ikora pulls a holopad from within her robes, keying up the relevant projection and offering it for Ada to inspect. "It was in my library. Hardly a solid reference, but -"

Ada has almost tuned her out, scrutinizing the projection. It details Light weapon design, something she's all too familiar with, referencing former gunsmiths employed by the Vanguard, independent ones that offer their services by commission to individual guardians, and -

"Black Armory prototypes…" Ada is in awe, bringing the projection closer. "This is - it's talking about experimental frames, ones I've never heard of." Ada turns to grab her own holopad, cross-referencing and copying the data over before she thinks. "Sorry, is this -"

"Of course, go ahead." Ikora watches, somewhat charmed by Ada's sudden fervent enthusiasm. She observes quietly while Ada transfers the data, smile growing when she realizes Ada is getting absorbed into the new material. Ikora stands patiently, hands clasped behind her back, remaining still and observing; she feels as if she’s studying a timid doe, one that would startle and flee at the slightest abrupt movement.

There is prolonged silence, blissfully uninterrupted by the arrival of any guardians, most of whom are either off-duty or the type to remain off-planet even when they’re not on an active mission. After several minutes, Ada seems to come out of her trance, the lights of her eyes flickering as she finally lifts her head from its position bowed over the two holopads.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have kept you so long --”

“Nonsense.” Ikora’s voice is firm, but gentle. “I understand this is an exciting discovery for you. I get this way myself when I unearth new information from the archives.” She accepts her holopad back from Ada, dismissing the record that contains the Black Armory data.

Ada hesitates over her own holopad before clearing it and setting it aside, reluctant to do so but more unwilling to be overtly rude to Ikora by ignoring her presence any longer. “I really appreciate you bringing this to me. A lot of the data is encrypted, I believe; old Black Armory code. It will take me a while to decrypt it, but I’m hopeful that it may result in new findings. My mother and her friends were geniuses -- I can only hope to achieve their level of brilliance one day, and studying their inventions will go a long way toward helping me attain that goal.”

Once more Ikora finds herself charmed by Ada’s fervent enthusiasm and the way her passion seems somehow innocent, making her come across as much younger than what Ikora is sure she actually is. “If you find something that needs to be investigated, there are always guardians at your disposal, as I’m sure you know. If you’d like access to our libraries and archives, just give me the word, I can provide clearance.” Allowing non-guardians access to those records is almost unheard of, Ikora knows, but she rationalizes it with the simple fact that most non-guardians have no interest in them; there’s nothing specifically _forbidding_ Ada from going through the collection of archives that are stored in the libraries.

Add to that the fact that Ada’s face lights up -- figuratively and literally -- and Ikora feels even more justified in her split-second decision. “That would be wonderful -- thank you, Ikora, truly.” There’s an awkward moment where Ikora smiles at Ada, and Ada’s mouth lights brighten and flicker in response -- neither of them really know where to go from here, and Ikora feels that leaving now would somehow feel too abrupt.

They’re saved by the arrival of a guardian, who pauses at the entrance to the vault. Ikora reads surprise on their face as they register that one of their Vanguard members is standing there, apparently having a conversation with Ada. “Ah - I can return, if you’re busy?”

Ikora steps back with a farewell nod in Ada’s direction. “No, Kassandra, we were just wrapping up. Reach out to me if you need anything else, Ada.” Ikora turns to leave again, passing her warlock, who seems somewhat confused by the entire situation. She pauses at the doorway, glancing back to observe Ada’s interaction with Kal for moment, before continuing back to her post.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mutual all-nighters (still not as exciting as we wish) for research, baybee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not promising continual updates but I'll throw more stuff at this as inspiration hits.
> 
> Being honest, I'm a slut for validation, so the kudos and comments help lol. Thanks for reading!

Ikora finds herself in the libraries of the Tower far more often than usual as of late, which is saying something considering the libraries are her favorite place to be when not at her post. She ignores Ophiucus’ pointed reminder that she’s already read all of the books that the Tower has salvaged, and instead focuses on pouring back over anything that could be tangentially related to weapons; the Black Armory discovery has sparked her interest and motivated her to search for any other information that might have been overlooked prior to the Black Armory’s reintroduction to guardian society.

What information she finds is related only to weapons she knows have already been crafted, but nonetheless Ikora searches on, tireless and determined to find something. She always enjoys research, but there’s a certain fervor behind her dedication to this particular goal that she hasn’t experienced in quite a while. Even Ophiucus notices; Ikora can feel the low thrum of his amused judgment in the back of her mind, and opts to ignore him once again.

Days go by, then weeks; any time away from her Vanguard duties is spent going through the archives, sleeping only when necessary. Her focus is intense and narrow; Ophiucus reminds her more than once to attend to her basic needs, and takes over minding her schedule so that she doesn’t run late to any meetings that require her presence.

Ikora is up late into the early morning hours of a late winter day; the draft in the library nips at her bare fingertips as she carefully turns pages, and she keeps the collar of her robes up against the frigid air. There are digital copies of every book within their library, but Ikora has always preferred touching these relics of the Golden Age, taking care to not damage them, always mindful of the oil on her skin and how it might affect the ancient paper. She’s expecting nobody, not at this hour, and is surprised when there’s a quiet knock at the door. “Come in.”

Ikora is both caught off guard and pleased when Ada opens the door, her smile exuding warmth and fondness. “Ada. I’m glad to see you. Did you need something?”

Ada crosses the threshold, looking around the room, her body language communicating her awestruck reaction to the expansive collection where her facial expressions fail to do so. “Your collection is impressive. I can only imagine how much knowledge is contained in these pages.” Her attention moves to the neat stacks on the table surrounding Ikora, the lights of her eyes flickering as she scans the books. “Weapon research. Funny - I was coming here for the same reason.”

Ikora beckons Ada closer, shifting aside on the bench to make room for her. She can see the hesitation in the way Ada approaches, and doesn’t say anything when she instead remains standing at the end of the table. “My earlier findings… piqued my curiosity, you could say. I’ve been going through anything related to weaponry that I can find; all mentions of Black Armory reference designs you already have in your possession, unfortunately.”

The lights illuminating Ada’s facial expressions dim; she looks around the library and Ikora can sense the disappointment radiating off her. “Unfortunate. I appreciate you looking, though.” Ikora watches Ada go still, concerned until she turns back to face Ikora again. “Why were you looking?”

Ikora can’t discern whether it’s suspicion or genuine curiosity in her voice, and the question itself throws her off. There’s a couple beats of silence that last too long before Ikora comes up with a reasonable reply. “As I said, curiosity.” Too many years of leading guardians has trained Ikora to infuse a certain authoritative tone in her voice when she doesn’t want to be questioned, and she does so now without even realizing it, only conscious of the fact that she doesn’t have a deeper explanation and doesn’t want Ada to realize as much.

But Ada isn’t one of her guardians. Her bright gaze meets Ikora’s guarded one, holding the stare for long enough that the doubt all but seeps out of the crevices of her metallic body, invading Ikora’s awareness. “Yes -- but why Black Armory?” She doesn’t sound upset, only doubtful, as if she senses that she hasn’t been given the full story.

There isn’t a full story -- all Ikora has is the truth, which somehow feels inappropriate, though she can’t place a finger on exactly why. “You seemed to appreciate my last discovery; I thought another of the same or higher caliber would be of even more use to you.” Perhaps it feels off because there’s no obvious reason why Ikora would go out of her way to do this -- she speaks to many guardians who have investments in personal projects, areas that might involve or even require research, and though oftentimes their pursuits interest her, she never utilizes her downtime to assist them. She can write it off as an attempt to repair her reputation with Ada as a member of the Vanguard.

“That’s… kind of you.” The suspicion in Ada’s voice doesn’t completely disappear, but it’s joined by a genuinely appreciative tone. “I did not believe the Vanguard would be so invested in Black Armory history; after all, you have plenty of weaponsmiths at your disposal.” She hesitates, looking back over the various books, the dim flashing of her lights an indication of her concern. “I appreciate that you brought the other Black Armory information to me, instead of keeping it to yourself.”

Ikora knew when she found the records that she could have brought them to Banshee, or one of the other gunsmiths enlisted by the Vanguard, but it hadn’t felt right; if Ada was going to be working with their guardians, she ought to be shown appropriate respect. “Of course. I hope the data has been of use to you.”

Ada looks up from scanning the titles of the books surrounding Ikora and her face lights up, brighter than before and lacking any flickering. “It has. Actually, that’s why I came to find you. I believe the key to decrypting the weapons’ designs are located within one of the forges. I’d appreciate a recommendation on which guardians to contact.”

Ikora stands, and in doing so is reminded of the stark difference in her and Ada’s heights; she’s used to being taller than most, but forgot just how short Ada is in comparison. “Of course.” She begins to pull out her holopad, but a strike of inspiration hits before she can queue up a list of trustworthy guardians. “I think Kassandra would be a good fit -- the guardian that came by your vault the last time I visited. They have a solid team with two other guardians; the forges should be no issue for the three of them.”

Ophiucus materializes and silently transmits the guardians’ contact information to Ada’s holopad, disappearing again with a polite whirl. Ada glances briefly through them, identifying class and subclass information, then tucks her holopad away. “Thank you, I’ll contact them.” Now it’s Ada’s turn to stand there awkwardly; something makes her feel like she should stay, and Ikora seems welcoming enough, but --

“I should get back. Can’t leave the armory unattended for too long; your guardians get restless.” Ada’s tone is playful, almost teasing Ikora -- for once she is not agitated at the idea of guardians invading her space, but miraculously ambivalent.

Ikora’s smile is warm and amused; she dips her head in acknowledgment. “They do tend to, yes.” She watches Ada turn to go, content in the knowledge that she’d done well in assisting her. “Let me know if I can be of any further assistance, Ada.”

One metal hand resting on the doorframe of the library, twists halfway around so that Ikora can see the bright glow of her facial lights. “You as well, Ikora.”


End file.
